Treasury yields inch higher ahead of April jobs report

U.S. Treasury yields were slightly higher on Friday as investors awaited key labor market data that could provide hints about the state of the economy.

At 4:01 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was up by more than one basis point to 4.5814%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last over one basis point higher to 4.8891%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.

Investors looked ahead to the April jobs report, which investors will be scanning for clues about whether the labor market is easing or remaining resilient.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are anticipating that nonfarm payrolls rose by 240,000 in April, which would be a slowdown from the 303,000 jobs that were added in March. Average hourly wages are expected to have increased 4% year over year.

The unemployment rate is meanwhile expected to remain at 3.8%.

That comes after ADP’s private payrolls report for April, which was published Wednesday, came in above expectations. It showed that private companies added 192,000 workers, higher than the estimated 183,000. The figure was, however, slightly below March’s reading.

Investors will be scanning the fresh jobs data for clues about how the economy is faring as interest rates have remained elevated.

The Federal Reserve earlier this week kept interest rates unchanged, in line with expectations. Policymakers noted that “it will not be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”

Uncertainty about how many rate cuts, if any, will take place this year and when they might begin has grown in recent weeks, with many investors now expecting fewer cuts and not until later in the year.